Financial planners council readies new campaign
By Adnews Staff
The Toronto-based Financial Planners Standards Council has prepared a new campaign called "Take the Next Step" to promote its Certified Financial Planner designation. The campaign will consist of television and print advertising featuring quotations on the subject of money from figures such as Oscar Wilde, Albert Einstein, Malcom Forbes and Pablo Picasso. The ads will encourage Canadians to seek financial advice from a planner who has been certified by the council. The television component will consist of a series of 10-second closed-captioning sponsorship ads which will run for three weeks beginning Oct. 3 and for three more weeks beginning Nov. 7. The ads will run on The Food Network, The Comedy Network, Home & Garden Television, The Life Channel, The Score, The Sports Network and The Weather Network. In addition, eight new half-page print ads will be added to an existing magazine campaign that began in August. These ads will run until March 2006 in Canadian House & Home, Canadian Home Workshop, enRoute, Gardening Life, Golf Canada, MoneySense, Ski Canada and Today's Parent. "We're using two powerful mediums to hit our target audiences when they are most likely to be contemplating life and lifestyle changes," said Ann Bowman, the council's vice-president of communications and corporate relations. "These ads get Canadians to act on their impulse to get professional financial planning help by engaging their interest in specific but diverse issues introduced by unexpected authorities like Mark Twain." The creative was developed by Clique of Toronto. Media planning was handled by Walker Media of Oakville, ON. In a related media effort, the council will also conduct a radio campaign called "Ask the Expert" on talk-radio stations in major markets nationally during RRSP season. The Financial Planners Standards Council is a not-for-profit organization founded to foster professionalism in personal financial planning.